Corteo – Cirque du Soleil, Royal Albert Hall, London. 08.02.25

As much as I adore Cirque du Soleil, it is getting harder to justify what are now pretty eye-watering ticket costs, particularly on an annual basis. Not that the performances aren’t worth it; it’s just an expensive habit to form. Still, our usual circus group headed back to the Royal Albert Hall to see this year’s show, Corteo, and I tried to be grateful that at least the programme cost hadn’t increased.

Corteo is not new to Cirque du Soleil’s repertoire, having debuted back in 2005. The word itself is Italian for procession/cortege. It has been dubbed as ‘joyous and jubilant’ which seems a little at odds with its subject matter – a funeral.

It’s an unusual story bursting with imagination. Mauro ‘The Dreamer Clown’ (Stephane Gentilini) is dead, floating around with angels, and wondering about the funeral events that are being held for him. Is he dead? Is he just dreaming? Will we ever find out?

What is quite unique in comparison to other Cirque du Soleil shows, and as far as I’m aware has not previously been done at the Royal Albert Hall, is the bilateral staging. Rather than the usual seating around a more traditional circus ‘round’ stage, the audience is split in half facing each other, either side of a long stage that goes from one end of the hall to the other. This makes the audience feel much more a part of the action.

What is less unique, but no less impressive, are some of the stats around Corteo’s tour. The troupe numbers 117, with 53 artists and 34 technicians from 27 different countries. There are 175 custom-made costumes, and it takes 24 trucks to transport the show from city to city.

When you walk in and take your seat, you are confronted with a massive roll-drop curtain (one on each side of the stage), which is beautifully handpainted; a jaw-dropping 53 metres wide and 12 metres high.

The show starts, and we witness a series of enchanting and gravity-defying acts as part of Mauro’s dreams. It has a particularly impressive opening; female acrobats hanging from twirling chandeliers (sometimes only by their necks!) high in the air.

I had two favourite acts. The first was the awe-inspiring Stephanie Waltman, who did tricks I struggle with on a static pole (that’s bolted to the ground) with seemingly effortless grace, all on a pole that was suspended from the ceiling and swinging across the stage. The second was the duo straps, which Hitomi Kinokuniya and Oleksandr Kunytskyi delivered flawlessly.

A staple of any Cirque du Soleil cast is the clowns. In stark contract to one another, there is The Giant (Victorino Lujan) and the petite Clowness (Valentyna Paylevanyan). One of the most entertaining skits of the show involves Clowness being attached to giant balloons and flying over the audience, using various audience members hands as a springboard to propel herself back into the air.

Apart from these, there were terrific Cyr wheel, paradis and tournik stunts that evoked the usual effusive reactions from those watching. Roman Munin’s contortions on the acrobatic ladder were frankly mind-boggling.

To list everyone involved in the creation of this production would take pages and pages, but Director Daniele Finzi Pasca and the creative team have done a great job at breathing new life into this classic.

A fun fact that I didn’t know and learned this year, is that every artist must learn to apply their own make-up for each show, after being trained by a professional make-up artist.

As with every Cirque du Soleil production I’ve now seen at the Royal Albert Hall, I left feeling like I’d witnessed exceptional abilities from a troupe of truly dedicated artists. Like most of their shows, the performers’ raw talent is juxtaposed with a slightly ethereal plot. I will leave you with some final words from the dreamer clown himself:

“My grandfather always used to say, ‘Life is like riding a bicycle. If you go too fast, you’ll get tired and have to stop. If you go too slowly, you’ll lose your balance. Find the right pace, Mauro…’”

Corteo has finished it’s run in the UK but is now touring the rest of the world and can be seen in these locations. The next Cirque du Soleil show to grace the Royal Albert Hall will be Ovo in January 2026. Tickets can be purchased here.